Android

So I may or may not be writing this from a Nexus 4 (hint: I am). While these sort of updates aren’t going to be common, it’s worth mentioning because I barely know what I’m doing. In fact, this is my first smart phone. Prior to this I just had my “dumb” phone and iPod Touch.

So, basically, if you have any advice or recommendations for apps to get or things to do, let me know in the comments. So far, I just have SwiftKey and Reddit and obviously this somewhat annoying WordPress app.

P.S. I find it amusing that the swipe text feature refuses to recognise “iPod”.

Apps:
AirDroid for wireless syncing with PC.
DeskSMS if you want to get/send texts on your PC, costs a bit..
Falcon for Twitter (though there’s LOTS of Twitter apps)
If you have any desire to get into the rooting scene, Titanium Backup is a lifesaver.
(Lots of more specific recs obviously depending on what you want to do.)
Games (in no particular order, some are P2P, some are F2P):
10000000, Super Hexagon, Jetpack Joyride, Punch Quest, Great Big War Game.

Thanks for the feedback. I downloaded AirDroid, but I don’t know if I’ll keep it; it seems to be a massive battery hog and it’s easy enough to just connect the N4 to transfer files while recharging. Then again the whole anti-theft part seems interesting. Only issue is that that means setting up an unlock password and having to enter that all the time. Hrm.

As far as games go, it’s funny, but I have already played and beat most of the ones you listed. Seeing as how I can now browse the internet (especially Reddit) at work, I am not entirely sure whether games are even that important on this phone.

I own an N4 and I use AirDroid quite a bit. It might be a battery hog but you don’t leave it on all the time. You’re certainly not losing anything by keeping it on your phone. Just turn it off when you’re not actively transferring files around. I just throw the widget on my home screen somewhere and when I want to transfer files to a computer I switch it on and do it.

I’ve found it especially useful for transferring files to and from my phone when I don’t have a mini-USB cable handy.

I’m not actually a fan of games which require controls to be placed on the screen (assuming that’s how Terraria does it), so I tend towards more turn-based games unless they are touch-only. Puzzle games can definitely work. Although I have an itch for games like 10000000 which have pseudo-progression. Indeed, I had Candy Crush Saga for exactly that reason, although I got so frustrated with one level that I deleted it off the iPod a month ago.

Actually, I’m not a fan of the on screen joystick either. Something about it totally misses the point of haptic feedback. yet Terraria is an old favorite of mine so I give it a pass.

There are few games with RPG elements that are worth paying for in the mobile market right now. Dungeon Village is great in this area. Theres levels, dungeon crawling, loot hunting, and city-building all in one. I got waaaay more hours out of that game than I hoped to for 5 bucks.

I just got a Galaxy S4 myself, after having a feature phone for a while (that’s the proper name for a “dumb phone”).

I’ve been learning a bit of Japanese language from some programs I downloaded. As someone who got a degree in a language in university, it’s kinda neat to see how technology changes how you learn a language as an adult.

As for games, my current hits list, in order of how much I play: Siren Fantasia, Pixel Dungeon, Robot Unicorn Attack 2, and Elder Sign.

Pixel Dungeon in particular is pretty fun and 100% free, not even any microcransactions. But, it’s a pretty brutal roguelike, so get ready for lots and lots of character deaths. Siren Fantasia is a strange game, supposedly very heavily cribbed from the iOS hit Puzzle and Dragons. Elder Sign is based off a super-fun board game, which is a ton of fun. And Robot Unicorn Attack 2 because robots and unicorns. Attacking. :)